The present invention relates to a connector and a mounting structure of the connector to a substrate.
In the prior art, a connector 114 as shown in FIG. 10 has been proposed. The connector 114 includes a housing 111, which has a base 112, and terminals 113, which extend straight. The terminals 113 are supported by the base 112. A pair of bosses 116 is formed on the outer side surface of the housing 111.
When the connector 114 is attached to a substrate, which is a print-circuit board 115, the bosses 116 are secured to the print-circuit board 115 with screws 117. The terminals 113 are electrically connected to printed wiring (not shown), which is located on the print-circuit board 115, with solder 118. This secures the terminals 113 to the print-circuit board 115.
The connector 114 is, for example, mounted to an automobile as an in-vehicle part. Since the housing 111, which includes the bosses 116, is made of synthetic resin, the housing 111 selectively expands and contracts when exposed to temperature variation. In other words, the dimension of the housing 111 changes in accordance with the temperature. Since temperature variation in an automobile is great, dimensional variation of the housing 111 is relatively large. The dimensional variation of the housing 111 causes stress on the solder 118, which connects the terminals 113 to the printed wiring. The stress applied to the solder 118 is reduced by deformation of the base 112.
However, portions of the base 112 in the vicinity of the bosses 116 do not deform as easily as portion of the base 112 apart from the bosses 116. Thus, the stress applied to portions of the solder 118 located in the vicinity of the bosses 116 is not reduced as much as the stress applied to portions of the solder 118 located apart from the bosses 116. Consequently, the connector 114 is mounted to the print-circuit board 115 in an unstable manner.